Th3 Plan (PS2)

Another case of judging a game by it's cover. I saw this one in a store a while back and the cover roped me in, then when I read the premise on the back I was roped in more. Th3 Plan promotes stealth and action, while controlling multiple characters throughout the game. Is the payoff worth it in the end? Only one way to know.

 

The Story

Th3 Plan follows three close knit members of a heist team, out on a mission to steal two Rembrandt painting. Robert, Alan, and Stephen, as well as Stephen's girlfriend Valerie, are able to get one painting, but end up tripping the alarm sending authorities to the museum. Stephen immediately escapes in the car, with the painting and Valerie, while Alan is left behind in the museum and Robert on the side of the road. While Robert manages to escape, Alan ends up getting arrested. 

Five years later, Robert and Valerie go to Alan in prison and inform him of a plan to break him out, and one last heist to get revenge on Stephen for ditching them at the museum. Stephen is being forced to work for the mafia until he can obtain the second promised painting, but Robert, Valerie and Alan plan to get to it first.

The Controls

For this game, the controls are a bit different than tradition, and can be broken up into three sections. First, the joysticks and D-pad control control your characters movement, and a quick-cycle option for sifting through your items and weapons. Next you have the button interface which matches up with a four-grid area on the screen, determining what options you have in the game whether it's using an item, jumping up to a ledge, crouching, or opening a door. Lastly, the shoulder buttons are where the main focus lies, as you use the back two to switch viewpoints between the characters, and you can use the front buttons to directly control the other characters without switching to them (I swear this will all be explained below and make a lot more sense.

The Gameplay

Th3 Plan is a 3rd person stealth and action based game. Each mission is broken up so it spans a couple different chapters, and each comes with it's own list of objectives which you need to complete by switching between either of the three main characters. 

In each chapter, you have free control over which character you want to play as. The game screen is broken down into three sections. The top two-thirds is where your currently controlled viewpoint is placed, while the bottom third is split in half, each half belonging to the other two characters. You have the ability to switch viewpoints, bringing either of the other two characters up to the top section, or using R1 or L1 to control the characters in their miniature viewpoints (right and left respective to the button you're using. This latter option is perfect for if you need to line up two characters to do something together. 

While in the missions, you have a list of objectives that need to be completed before you can end the chapter. These objectives can be completed in just about any order. I say just about because they aren't presented in a "first do this, then do this" sort of list. You're able to skip around and complete them however you see fit, and with whichever character you choose, but certain objectives are prerequisites for other ones, and even other objectives can only be completed by one specific character. 

Any items you need to use are, for the most-part, found in each level. These can be things like keycards, weapons, and obviously your objective items like information disks and treasures to steal. Some things will be found on guards, which can be either pickpocketed or subdued, while others are just hidden in the level waiting to be picked up. 

The combat is the only portion of the game that takes place in a first-person perspective. While holding the gun, you can still move about like normal, so you're not stuck planting your feet and swiveling. You have health that doesn't generate, but also access to health packs to replenish your health when it's too low. 

Aside from guns, your main form of movement is through stealth. Each character has the ability to crouch, but Valerie is the only one who can't move while crouched. The other two can kneel and move quietly to avoid raising anyone's attention, and can even hide in different lockers and closets to wait for a patrol to move by. 

It's not a very deep game, but it plays pretty well, but is it too easy or too challenging? Let's see.

The Challenge (or lack thereof?)

There are three real areas that Th3 Plan will come at you from : Switching characters, completing objectives, and combat.

Switching characters sounds like it would be easy, just press a button. But it's more than that, it's knowing which character to be in which area, who's capable of doing what, so finding this balance I'd have to say is on the easy side of moderate. Your objective list helps you out a lot by telling you who can complete each objective, but just like a lot of times in video gaming, just knowing isn't always enough. Sometimes you'll have to redo whole sections of a mission because the character you chose to complete an earlier objective is the only one who can complete a later one. Like I mentioned earlier, the game doesn't spell out for you which order to do things in, so you can't always see the chain of events that will unfold to determine if you'll need Valerie later or if it's okay to use her now. 

Completing the objectives is just on the other side of moderate on the scale.The best thing about them is that you get the checklist telling you who is required to do which one. The issue lies with the detection of doing some things though. If you have too many options around you (a door to open, a closet to hide in, an object to pick up) the game doesn't give you a choice for scrolling through the options to choose the one you want. You either have to be standing in the perfect spot, or just cycle through them all to get to what you want. The other issues is the fact that some of these detections require pinpoint accuracy. For example, in an early mission you're on a train, and to move up far enough on the train you have to climb onto the roof from the inside. To do this you need to have one character open the hatch, and another jump through the opening. Except you need to be in a specific spot to gain the option for jumping so unless you get it on a lucky stab, you'll be inching your way around the entire area until you're able to climb up.

Lastly, combat. It's pretty easy, especially considering how lowered down the enemy AI can be. They may see you right away, but they won't fire immediately. If you're working your way through some sort of police force, their first intent will be to try and arrest you, not shoot. And once they do start shooting, the shots are fairly slow and spaced out. Through the game you'll get access to a couple different weapons. If you have a gun, the view will switch to first person and it's just a matter of lining up and taking your shot. Another weapon you'll come across is a gas-bomb in disc form that you can slide across the floor. When you bring it up, a light-bar will activate on the floor with a ghost disc sliding along with it. Just stop it where you want to place your bomb, let it go and wait.

In the end this game can be a bit of a challenge, but not extremely so. But, before we give this one a verdict let's look at what's good and bad about it.

PROS

- Objective Freedom. You know everything you need to do in a mission, and it's up to you how it all gets done. It's nice, and makes you feel less like you're just constantly running back and forth doing things in a specific order. Obviously, some objectives won't be able to be completed until earlier ones are, so it's not "absolute" freedom, but it lends to the feeling of being the heist-master you're supposed to be.

- Low Budget. Th3 Plan was designed on a small budget, intended to be able to be sold for less (it initially sold for just $15). Surprisingly though, the low-budget feel is nowhere in this game. The only time it's really noticeable is during the cutscenes, which take plan in an almost comic-book form, but it brings a unique feel to this game that would have been lost with full motion video cutscenes. 

- Control Everyone. The best part about having everyone's viewpoint on your screen at the same time is being able to control them all without switching to each character. If one of your secondary characters needs to move ever so slightly to do something, just hold down their respective shoulder button, move them where you need to, and go back to focusing on your main person.

CONS

- Multiple Viewpoints. While it's a cool feature, the way it's executed can be pretty annoying. The secondary characters take up so much space that it looks like one of those scenes from the show 24. And it's constant. It would've been a lot less intrusive if the characters you weren't controlling could take care of themselves in some minor way like talking with another NPC in the vicinity, or busy themselves with some object nearby, and having their screen pop up on the bottom when it was necessary (like they're about to be detected). Instead you're left with constantly having to see all three screens and it keeps you incredibly distracted while trying to focus on your main character and what they're doing.

Final Verdict

It's definitely a unique title. The viewpoint switching will remind more modern gamers of GTA V, but way before it's time. Yet, while it has some interesting ideas, and even more interesting ways of executing them, Th3 Plan is far from being a must-play title. It's fun, don't get me wrong on that, but there's nothing that really pulls you into this one and makes you want to stay for very long. Finding this title should be cheap and easy, with a CIB copy only costing $3 and everything else going down from there. So for that price it may at best be worth a peek, but this one might not be one that you want to keep in your library.

I played the first few levels of this one and then, as I just mentioned, didn't feel anything compelling me to keep going in that moment. Eventually I will finish this one, but I'm going to wait until the urge to play it comes back because without that, I don't expect I'll get much from this title. 

Stay tuned on the facebook page (www.facebook.com/mbentonhg) I'll be posting a video announcement in the next few days about something that will be coming up on the blog in the next week!!

HG